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Fri March 28, 2008

Charges against Edmond Marine dismissed

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Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, an Edmond native, has had all charges against him dismissed in the November 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians. - AP
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By Jay F. Marks
Staff Writer

Criminal charges were dismissed today against Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, a Marine from Edmond who had been accused of killing Iraqi civilians in 2005.




"This was done in order to continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha incident," the military said today in news release.

Tatum, 26, was one of eight Marines to face charges after 24 Iraqi civilians were killed in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. It is the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war, but most of the charges have been dropped.

Tatum may be called to testify against his squad leader, but his attorneys said the dismissal of the charges against him was not part of a deal for his testimony.

Tatum's attorneys maintain he did nothing wrong.

"We believe the evidence shows that Lance Cpl. Tatum reacted to an enemy attack the way he was trained to do," the attorneys said in a written statement.

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